The Saved becomes the Hero
by Pichooi
Summary: Timon finds himself in a dangerous position while searching for his friends. Set in the time of Simba's adolescence in the Jungle.


**Hi everyone! I haven't written a story in forever so here is a short one which had been playing around in my mind. Originally I wanted to make it a comic but I can't draw very well so decided to make it a short story instead.**

**I do not own Simba, Timon or Pumbaa all belong to Disney.**

It was a cool morning in the jungle oasis. Timon was experiencing one of those very rare mornings where he was awake before Pumbaa and Simba. He slipped himself out from under the adolescent lions paw, where he had been sleeping and slid off the warthog careful not to awaken either of them.

He wasn't very surprised Simba was sleeping in this morning as he had another restless night. Thankfully, as Simba was getting older these nights were lessening in their occurrence but every now and then, the lions sleep was disturbed by bad dreams, which he would claim to have forgotten the next morning ,although, Pumbaa and Timon felt he just didn't want to share them.

Timon started off with his normal routine of going to the waterfall to have a drink and a quick dip in the pool followed by some foraging for some breakfast. After this, he was quite bored and getting sick of waiting for his friends to wake up, so he headed back to the area in which they slept, only to find that his friends weren't there.

"Hey guys!" Timon yelled out hoping they hadn't gone far.

Silence.

'They must be around here somewhere' he thought to himself scratching his head with a paw.

He then spent some time searching all their regular hangouts. He searched high and low (well mostly low given his size although he did make and attempt of climbing a tree to get a better view of the oasis).

Finally, he decided to check the desert surrounding the oasis as Pumbaa may be out bowling for buzzards.

Timon didn't particularly like venturing into the desert on his own. It was so vast and open that it made him feel very vulnerable. It also reminded him a little too much of the home and traditional meerkat lifestyle of digging and hiding in fear he had left behind.

In the distance he saw some vultures surrounding something. He waited in the border of the jungle to see if Pumbaa or Simba would spring out from somewhere to chase them off.

Suddenly he saw what he was looking for, the vultures, apparently spooked by something, started to flap around and take flight. Without thinking Timon hurried out to where they were expecting to see Pumbaa jumping about in excitement.

As he rushed up to a figure he could see moving in the dust caused by the birds flapping, he yelled out "Hey buddy where ya been? I've been looking for……" but he stopped dead in his tracks because now that he was closer and the dust had cleared he saw that it wasn't Pumbaa or even Simba out there, it was a jackal.

For a second both just stared at each other sizing each other up. Timon was terrified and was considering his options. He could either stay and fight or turn and flee. Given the jackal was a few times his size the flee option was looking very good at the moment and that's just what he did. The moment Timon made his dash the jackal made his chase.

The meerkat tried to confuse the jackal by darting from left to right but the jackal seemed to be onto all his tricks. As Timon neared the edge of jungle oasis another jackal jumped out of the bushes and only just missed seizing the meerkat in her jaws.

'Oh great now there are two! Where did she come from?' thought the meerkat looking for somewhere, anywhere, he could find safety.

Unfortunately even upon entering the denser jungle's outer border he saw no chances of escape so kept running forwards hearing the nearby panting and growling of the jackals close behind him.

Meanwhile, Simba was lifting a log trying to find enough bugs to fill his appetite when he heard some movement in the nearby foliage suddenly he saw his meerkat buddy jump out of the bushes in a mad panic, speed past him and a second later, two jackals sprang out close on his heels.

Simba froze in shock for a moment and then dashed off in hot pursuit.

Timon could now feel the breath of the jackals on his back and with a last burst of energy shot further ahead. He ran like he had never run before, before finally tripping over a root. 'This is it' he thought, the end is here. Suddenly he felt himself being lifted up and closed his eyes tight not wanting to see the teeth snap down on him.

Strangely though, although he could feel teeth and hot breath surrounding him the creature holding him did not bite down. The creature ran with him for a while before turning around sharply and growling. The growl was very deep and Timon could feel his surroundings vibrate with the sound. Timon found the courage to open his eyes and since he could only see downwards due to the way in which he was being held saw two large white familiar paws, he then breathed deep with a sigh of relief knowing it was in fact Simba who had him.

Simba had acted fast, running between the two Jackals and pushing them aside just as one was about to snatch up the fallen meerkat. He had scooped up Timon quickly before they had a chance to try again and was now trying to chase them off. Although his mane had not fully come in, Simba was nearly full grown and much larger than the jackals so after a growl and a short chase the jackals retreated back to the desert yelping in fear while they left.

Simba sat and gave a snort of pride when he was satisfied the jackals would not be returning.

Suddenly the moment of pride vanished and he gained a look of shock as his mind brought to him a flashback of the past;

_He was a cub running as fast as his legs could take him while stuck in the middle of a rampaging __wildebeest herd. The long legs of the animals threatened to stomp on him and he could feel his doom. Just when he was about to be crushed his father ran up pushing his way between the wildebeests and scooped him up._

_Next thing he remembered was just screaming "DAD!!!" as his father met his tragic end._

"Ummm…Simba?" a voice suddenly snapped Simba out of his memories and back into the present.

"I appreciate you saving me and all but…..I kind of miss the ground right now," Timon uttered.

Simba had completely zoned out and forgot about the meerkat he now held securely in his jaws.

Simba bent down and gently placed his friend back onto the ground.

"Thanks kid," said Timon patting Simba on the leg. He looked up at Simba's face. He looked very distracted.

"Are you OK kid?" asked the meerkat concerned.

"Yeah I'm fine," stated Simba unconvincingly. Then he snapped out of it, smiled down at the meerkat, and said in his usual tone "Besides you're the one who almost got eaten so shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"Moi?" asked Timon pointing to himself. "I'm fine, never been better! I had everything under control."

"Sure you did," said Simba with a smirk then reached down and lifted Timon onto his back. "Come on lets go find Pumbaa."

**Finished.**

**Yep very short. I guess this story just shows that although bad things happen in our lives and memories will arise of these events when we are presented with similar circumstances, life goes on.**

**Hope you enjoyed it please review.**


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